CURRENT EXHIBITION

LEONARDO. The Machinery of Imagination
From 17 September 2019 to 26 January 2020

 To celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci’s death, we have decided to organize the exhibition titled ‘Leonardo. The Machinery of Imagination’. It is a multimedia exhibition curated by Treccani based on the artistic project and set-up by Studio Azzurro, which has integrated different languages and skills, - from videos to graphic animation and interactive systems-, in a complex project supported by the scientific competence of art historian Eduardo Villata. The exhibition is promoted by the City of Palermo, Department for Cultural Activities, Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani Institute and Fondazione per l’Arte e la Cultura ‘Lauro Chiazzese’. It has been curated by Treccani and Studio Azzurro and organized by Civita with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo.

The exhibition is organized into seven sections corresponding to seven video installations, five of them interactive, involving visitors in a story told with images and sounds inspired by the multifaceted heritage of Leonardo, who tells to us a great deal of his and our time. The large machines, whose architecture is freely inspired by Leonardo’s drawings, correspond to the sections: Observations on Nature, The City, The Landscape, Peace Machines, War Machines, Anatomy Table, and Painting. Studio Azzurro has designed a space where visitors find themselves immersed in Leonardo’s imaginary world. It is a world made of machines that are sometimes as transparent as his horizons and others as opaque as the paper of his sketches. The experience of visitors goes from observation to participation as they move among shapes that recall the geometric accuracy of Plato’s solid shapes by Luca Pacioli and are reshaped into useful objects. Machines are turned into narrative devices, gigantic sheets of sketching paper waiting to be brought to life by visitors in a darkened environment where the colors of wood, canvas and paper stand out. Interaction takes place through different systems: modulation of light and voice are the preferred devices.

In four sections, visitors are invited to choose some of Leonardo’s keywords and by saying them out loud videos start where his drawings are flanked, traced or rethought by video clips, some hyper-realistic, others abstract. “In some situations, the interpretation and juxtaposition underline and increase the disturbing and subversive touch of Leonardo’s drawings, while other provide a sort of loving and ironical countermelody, an approach that Leonardo would have greatly enjoyed,” writes Professor Villata. “Visitors will come into contact with some productions based on Leonardo’s ideas and studies such as bird’s eye views, civil or military machines, maps, and anatomical studies of horses and birds, as well as terrible images of deluges, human faces transformed by rage, melancholic thinkers, gentle and witty images of dogs, cats or crabs. The exhibition has a background of sounds, which at times become music, and quotes taken from Leonardo’s manuscripts.”

Info about the exhibition

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 am to 6:30 pm
Ticket office closes at 5:30 pm
Closed on Monday

TICKETS
€ 10.00 Full price
€ 7.00 reduced price for groups (at least 15 people), visitors aged 19 to 25 years, senior citizens (65 and older) and holders of special discount cards (valid in Italy).
Free admission for visitors under the age of 18, school groups and one escorting teacher, disabled people and their escorts, accredited journalists, students of the Palermo School of Fine Arts, ICOM members, tour guides.
Special price Exhibition + Museum € 12.00
Visitors can download the free app Leonardo. The Machinery of Imagination.

Info and booking
091.8431605
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gampalermo.it
To book guided visits for adult and school groups
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